Distillery: Sourced from undisclosed KY distillery
Proof: 115
Age: Blend of 10 - 15 Years
Mashbill: Blend of rye based mash bills
BACKGROUND: Bardstown Bourbon Co. is a new bourbon company in Bardstown, KY. They launched in 2016 and began by blending sourced whiskies. Recently, Bardstown has begun distilling and aging their own whiskey while will be the sole whiskey in their products in the near future. Bardstown has a few different releases, this fusion series, a higher priced and older Discovery series, and a collaboration series where they finish whiskey in different finishes. Bardstown Discovery #4 is a blend of 3 whiskies: a 13 year bourbon with a mash bill of 74% corn, 18% rye, and 8% malted barley; a 15 year 78.5% corn, 13% rye, and 8.5% malted barley; and a 10 year 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley.
NOSE: Immediately prevalent is a ton of rich rye spice, aged oak, leather, dried dark fruit, and caramel. There are also some really nice fig and date notes flirting throughout. Overall, this is a very well balanced, rich, bold, and delicious nose with classic well aged and spicy bourbon notes. Well done. (23/25)
PALATE: There is a nice prickle on the tongue as soon as you take a sip but behind the spice are delicious flavors of oak barrel char, maple, all spice, rich dark caramel, and a roasted nuttiness that dries this one out. Overall, this is absolutely delicious, bold, and flavorful with a strong spiciness to it without being over the top. The whiskey is chewy with a nice creaminess. (36/40)
FINISH: The finish is as expected with tons of oak, warm baking spice, and a dry dark chocolate note. It is very long and the spice continues to build and build on the back of the tongue without being overpowering and taking away from the sweeter notes. (22/25)
VALUE: Bardstown Discovery Series has a $115 SRP which is on the higher end but this is a very tasty bourbon that is well aged and a limited release so it is understandable. We would pay up to $130. (7/10)
Overall: 88/100
FINAL THOUGHTS: Bardstown Discovery Series 4 is a delicious and spicy bourbon whiskey. It has a ton of rich and bold flavors that blend together nicely making this a flavorful and approachable cask strength bourbon. We recommend this whiskey to anyone who likes spicy and bold bourbon whiskey.
Similar & Slightly Better Whiskey: Smoke Wagon Uncut & Unfiltered Batch 23
Similar & Equal Whiskey: Elijah Craig Barrel Proof C919
Similar & Slightly Worse Whiskey: Knob Creek 12 Year
Tell us what you think and give us some feedback
Scoring Legend:
96-100: The perfect dram, juice of the gods
90-95: Near perfect, truly incredible whiskey
85-89: Amazing whiskey, will always try to keep a backup bottle of this
80-84: Very good, some minor flaws here or there
75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink, Will try and keep a bottle on the shelf
70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get this
60-69: Decent, would offer this up to non whiskey drinkers
50-59: Not my cup of tea
Below 50: Give away
